Candidates for Santa Ana mayor exchange salvos at chamber forum

Oct. 3, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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From left are Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides, Miguel Angel Briseno, George Collins, Lupe Moreno and Mayor Miguel Pulido. All are candidates for mayor in the November 2012 election. RON GONZALES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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From left are Ward 3 candidates Eric M. Alderete, Shane Ramon Barrows, Charles Hart, Brett Elliott Franklin and Ward 5 candidate Karina Onofre. The Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce hosted a forum for candidates seeking election in Santa Ana to the mayor's job and the City Council. It took place at Delhi Center. RON GONZALES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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About 50 people attended a candidates forum hosted by the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce for candidates seeking city office in Santa Ana. RON GONZALES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

From left are Santa Ana Councilman David Benavides, Miguel Angel Briseno, George Collins, Lupe Moreno and Mayor Miguel Pulido. All are candidates for mayor in the November 2012 election. RON GONZALES, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – A candidates forum focusing on business issues became a forum for challenger Councilman David Benavides and incumbent Miguel Pulido to attack each other over leadership, vision and City Hall's relationships with business.

"There hasn't been a strategic plan and a vision to make Santa Ana the strong, vibrant city that it can be," said Benavides, who has served on the City Council since 2006. "After 20 years, it's understandable that the current person would be tired. But times have changed."

He said it's time to bring in a mayor who can make the city business-friendly.

"It's easy to talk about things. It's hard to realize things," said Pulido, who has held the mayor's job since 1994. "But if you look around the city, whether it's the Artists Village, Mater Dei, the widening of Bristol Street, they're all projects that have taken years to build, but they're wonderful."

About 50 people attended the forum, held Tuesday night at Delhi Center. Candidates were asked a variety of questions, including the city's fiscal challenges, pension reform, and how they would encourage business development.

Benavides reminded the audience that the city came close to bankruptcy last year, blaming "20 years of poor decision making."

He pointed to "a lack of bold decisions in the past" that contributed to the city's financial situation.

"I think it's disingenuous to vote with somebody 98.6 percent of the time for six years and then pretend like those six years never existed," Pulido said. He said the current budget, which includes a plan to develop a surplus, was approved with a unanimous vote, "and it was under my leadership."

Benavides also raised an issue that at times has surfaced at council meetings – the culture of City Hall.

"If you go right now, there's definitely a sense of an insider's club, of sorts," Benavides told the audience. "If you're friends with a particular person, you might get your development project approved, you might get your business approved. That's not the way that a business-friendly city should operate."

He said that within the first 100 days of being mayor, he would form a business-improvement task force with members of the business community and local chambers to find out what they need and what the city could do to help.

Pulido said that with close to 16,000 businesses, some will have problems, and he proposed an ombudsman to help.

He highlighted the vote he took against a portion of the "Sunshine Ordinance" the City Council approved on Monday. The council voted 7-0 on some provisions, but narrowly approved other provisions dealing with land use on a 4-3 vote, in which Benavides voted yes and Pulido no.

The portion Pulido opposed will require developers to hold community meetings on certain larger-scale projects. The Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce had notified the city it was preparing a letter to express its concerns.

"If we would have taken time to listen to the chamber, the chamber would have said, 'Don't do this,' because what we did was we added $1,000 at least on any major development to do another meeting," Pulido said.

"Now we have an additional hearing under a transparency ordinance that is really not a Sunshine Ordinance, it's a red tape ordinance. And if you're pro-business, you want to diminish red tape."

On other issues, candidates generally agreed that a two-tier system needs to be set up for pensions, and pointed to the need to cut the red tape that businesses face at City Hall.

Among the other mayoral candidates, George Collins said the city needed to build up business in order to build up revenue. He said the city needs to lower business taxes to be more competitive, needs to encourage people to dine and shop in the city and needs to promote itself through its public-access channel.

Lupe Moreno pointed to safety as a concern, and also to the proliferation of food and produce trucks on city streets. She said that the city needs to have a department that would work with new businesses, which she said are over-regulated.

Miguel Angel Briseno said the city needed to encourage entrepreneurs, who would in turn contribute to the tax base. He supports a proposed city measure that would allow marijuana dispensaries to operate in Santa Ana and would impose an extra 2 percent sales tax. And, he said, the city needed to hold regular forums with business owners.

CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

Four candidates seeking the Ward 3 seat took part.

Eric M. Alderete said that as a member of planning commission for more than five years, he helped create jobs and housing. He pointed to his legal experience as a corporate lawyer, and his familiarity with small business through his service on the California Small Business Board. He recommended putting together a group that included labor, the city and experts to seek a solution to the pension-funding issue.

Shane Ramon Barrows said the city needs to become friendlier to business, and he said he wanted to create a partnership with the chamber to seek solutions. He called for a reduction in business fees and red tape and said the city needs to eliminate graffiti to make it more inviting. He questioned the city's revenue projections, estimating that it will be $2.5 million short.

Charles Hart pointed to his experience in the private and public sectors dealing with contracts and labor-management issues. He said the city's business fees lead businesses to set up shop in other cities at Santa Ana's expense. He said the city needed to set up a 401(k)-style of pension, and that City Hall should take steps to make its purchases in Santa Ana.

Brett Elliott Franklin, a former member of council, said the city needed to conduct an audit to ensure its fiscal health. He said the city needed to improve its image, and make it easier for businesses to work with City Hall. He said that the city should make feedback cards available at the counter in planning.

Ward 5 candidate Karina Onofre said she grew up in Santa Ana in a financially unstable home, but went on to graduate from Alleghany College and is now a businesswoman with real estate, insurance and tax licenses. She called for reform of the city's business taxes to be more competitive, and said the city needed to make sure employees aren't double-dipping.

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